Pluralism in Post-Communist Law

This paper discusses problems related to the incorporation of constitutional rule of law into a pluralistic legal system, primarily in post-communist Hungary. Normative pluralism was characteristic of state socialism. Is this pluralism going to shape the emerging constitution-driven law of post-communism? The paper concludes that although constitutional universalism brought a new dimension to law and in principle has helped to promote the centrality of law in the competitive world of normative orderings, it may in the long run remain an elitist tool, fundamentally ignored or circumvented by sub-legal forms of social interaction.